The Labor enquirer., 1887-10-15


the stump is platitude, and ne will
doubtless study carefully MI.
Georges work upon this subject.
He will there find set out toSa dot
the stock Socialistic arguments Of
the solidarity Of man; Of the
waste engendered BY artificial at
tempts to set nation apart from
nation; of the temptations offered
to fraud BY our protective system;
Of the creator, Labor, in supplicat-
ing protection at the hands Of its
creature, Capital. All which,
though brilliant originalities when
penned by Adam Smith, have
since passed into the realm Of ac-
cepted platitude, thanks greatly
to the cry of solidarity SO persist
emily sent up by those who dared
to hoist again the flag Of interna-
tionalism which the descendants
of the men of I776 and 1880 have
so basely suffered to be trodden
underfoot. 1t is the Socialists
who from the very dawn of their
propaganda have taught the unity
OF the workers of every race and
tongue, yet Socialistic literature,
so eloquent on every phase of
economic, is almost dumb on this
particular point. 1t would appear
that writer's thought the question
of free trade or protection at pres
ent side issue beneath their no.
tice and IN this case the appear
ance would be the truth.
The chief merit of metaphor
and simile lies, as has been
often shown, in their economy,
and what writer so econmical in
this respect as Mr.. George7 What
happy illustrations Tighten his
pages, saving US the tedium Of
endless explanation! Yet what
tones might we have been spared
had one of the tritest SMILES 90
ing been submitted to patient ex-
animation and refection In the
cry of the free-trader we have
forced upon our ears the whistle
of the locomotive engine; in the
protectionist praying for isolation
we have conjured up before our
eyes the pioneer barred from hui
man contact by the pathless for
ests from the heart of which he
has cut himself a home. How
palpably is the yearning for freer
intercommunication the legitimate
child of the enterprise which has
ribbed the earth with steel and
made the globe gigantic whis-
pering gallery! How indisputa-
BILE is the proposition that those
who attempt with their tiumpery
tariffs to stem the tide of inter-
| communication are trundling Mrs.
Partington's mop for the amuse.
ment of posterity. Yet, Mr..
George, these very Dame Parting
tons find plenty of long, level
headed folks ready to lend a hand
in their hopeless contest. Why.
in the name of all that is wonder
full, why7 Here is an ugly fact
calling loudly for explanation, and
a somewhat better explanation
than the stupidity or the conserv-
atism of the masses.
Free trade" and the 'locomo-
tive engine they are exactly on
all-fours. The one is merely the
concrete expression of the others
abstraction. What the free-trader
dreamed of as millennial Stephen
son did, and made an integral part
of the nineteenth century. They
may be treated as absolutely sy-
nonymous terms. You may argue
safely on this basis. You can say
with perfect certainty that just as
far as the railroad under our pres.
ent system has benefited the
masses just so far will free trade
benefit them and nice vfysa. The
free-traders and the railroad con-
tractors are out upon the same
survey; they have the same OBJ
| iact IN t,;eyu. fhex, both r>urroco